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If you want to join fellow RPG fans in shaping exciting narratives on one of the most popular social networks on the web, then Tweet RPG is definitely for you – get some fun, free, follower-defined adventures in your timeline today!

On a hot summer’s night, bereft of sleep and pondering a whole hosts of subjects, the idea of Tweet RPG was conceived. I (Sam Richards) was wondering how I could generate interest in me as a writer, encourage myself to practice my skill daily, and have some fun with other like-minded people at the same time. With the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks and the Final Fantasy video-games as major sources of entertainment and inspiration, it made sense to try something with RPGs – and no-one else was doing anything like this on Twitter!

The evolution of Tweet RPG has been one of trial and error. The key ethos behind the project has always been ‘keep it simple’. I have to be able to update and moderate the adventures on the go, and sometimes with a minimal amount of time at my disposal. It’s also important that the players are able to catch up and join in without too much fuss. I have sometimes strayed into the mistake of making things too complex, making it difficult for me to maintain the project and placing barriers in the path of those involved. However, now that I’ve been running the project for almost a year, the basic mechanics are firmly in place!

So, how does one run a crowd-sourced role-playing game on Twitter, I hear you ask. Well, I’ll tell you! A Tweet RPG adventure is made up of twelve-hour voting sessions. After I’ve posted a story update, generally between five and ten tweets in length, the players are offered choices as to how the adventure should progress. The voting sessions stay open for half a day to allow people all across the globe to join in, and when the session closes, the story continues according to the winning choice. There are also opportunities for individual players to take control of the narrative through ‘quick votes’ and ‘open votes’. Just log onto Twitter, find the current voting options, and tweet to shape the hero’s destiny!

There have been three Tweet RPG adventures to date, with a fourth currently being run as I write. King Slayer was the first, a fantasy adventure inspired by Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones. The second was the start of what I plan to be a series of adventures, a science fiction epic called Starfall, involving an intergalactic contest where youths are forced to battle in giant robots. Time to Die came next, a neo-noir mystery where the players took on the persona of a private eye searching for a stolen device, believed to be a time-machine.

The adventure which I’m currently running is called Hack ‘N’ Slash Hero’ A video-game inspired narrative, this story pokes fun and pays homage to the classics which we all love, like Zelda and Final Fantasy. Each Tweet RPG adventure so far has begun in a similar fashion – a prologue to set the scene, and ‘character creation’ to determine the protagonist’s skills and abilities. With Hack ‘N’ Slash Hero I decided to try something a little different. The players were given the opportunity to create their own individual characters for this adventure, with a new character being chosen every time the current hero is defeated. The response to this new approach was beyond what I expected, with eighty-three characters in total being created! This band of elite warriors has been contracted to save the realm of Visgarthia from a terrible dark enemy. At this moment in the story, the players are in the guise of a werewolf named Loupy, who is trying to locate the ‘Strength of Ages’, special abilities which will bring about the end of ‘the Affliction’, the Visgarthian’s deadly nemesis.

Image via CrunchBase

Tweet RPG is great fun for the players, but it’s also really rewarding for me too. There have been so many instances where my followers have suggested new ideas and inspired me to try different approaches. During Time to Die, I found that the death/failure mechanic I had designed was seriously flawed. However, with the help and advice of a few of the Tweet RPG players, I was able to address the issue and solve the problem. I can say with complete confidence that I wouldn’t have found the solution without the help of the players. Although I do maintain the majority of the creative control, Tweet RPG really is about the players taking control of the game!

I think Tweet RPG is awesome, but don’t just take my word for it – here’s what people are saying about the project:

“I think @tw33t_rpg is the best thing I’ve come across on Twitter in a long time!”@LandrasGembar, player

“Looking for thrills and adventures, all from the safety of your computer (or phone)? Follow @tw33t_rpg and become part of the action!” @VeeAhKnee, player

“Every once in a while someone comes up with a concept and runs with it. This is a concept that I’m glad to see ran with. Innovative, intriguing and very creative! It’s also quite fun is to see other people’s responses when it comes to choosing what happens next. Not to mention people get to see your own goofy comments!” – @therealrpgguy, gaming blogger and ‘Friend of Tweet RPG‘

If you want to get involved with Hack ‘N’ Slash Hero it’s super-simple; just sign up or sign in to Twitter, follow @tw33t_rpg, and send me a tweet with the hashtag that corresponds to your choice e.g. #trpg1a. To find out more about Tweet RPG, head over to the blog – http://www.tweetrpg.blogspot.comhttp://tweetrpg.co.uk/ – or get in contact on Twitter! Happy adventures!

[Editor’s Note: I want to thank Sam for letting us all know about Twitter RPG! We wish him and Tweet RPG all the best!]